DRUG PROGRAM RETURNS TO CLASS

GUTHRIE -- After a one year hiatus, the Drug Abuse Resistance
Education program is back at Guthrie's junior high school. Thanks to
the purchase of $432 in student workbooks by the Albert Pike Masonic
Lodge No. 162 in Guthrie, seventh- and eighth-graders will receive
drug awareness classes this year.

Deputy Chief Damon Devereaux said the department's loss of the
D.A.R.E. grant a year ago meant the Guthrie police couldn't afford the
materials for the program. Coupled with understaffing and management
shifts, the program was shut down.

"The agencies that could absorb the costs of the program kept it
going, but we're one of those that couldn't," he said.

In a methamphetamine-rich environment like Logan County, that's a
problem, Devereaux said. The lodge saw the need and stepped in.

"That's what makes our community special," he said. "In situations
like this, we've got groups in the area that step up and help us any
way they can."

Lodge Secretary Charles Nelson said that like in any other city, the
children of Guthrie are exposed to drugs.

"If we can sponsor something that will give them a different outlook
on drugs, that's what we want to do," he said.

The money for the program was taken from the group's charity reserves,
which also fund an academic excellence evening for Guthrie students
and a Little League team.

Superintendent Max Townsend said D.A.R.E. is "crucial in Guthrie and
in every middle and high school in the state."

"That's the only way the students are going to get factual information
about drugs," he said. "Many parents are not equipped to explain the
dangers of drugs."

Devereaux said that's something he'd like to change. In cooperation
with School Resource Officer Robert McAtee, Devereaux would like to
offer a D.A.R.E. program for parents.

"The more we educate the parents, the better chance they'll have of
preventing drug use with their children," he said.

McAtee said the newly streamlined D.A.R.E. program is more appealing
to him than the drug task force he once worked on.

"I like education much better," he said. "Preventing drug use is more
satisfying than making arrests."